Weymouth police probe finds officers justified in shooting

Wednesday

May 21, 2014 at 4:32 AMMay 21, 2014 at 8:21 AM

Christian Schiavone The Patriot Ledger @CSchiavo_Ledger

An internal police investigation has found that two officers involved in the non-fatal shooting of a homeless man were justified when they fired at him after he allegedly lunged at them with a knife, a department spokesman said.

Capt. Richard Fuller said the investigation found that the two officers acted appropriately when they shot at William J. Sylvester, a 35-year-old Level 2 sex offender, in a cramped bedroom late Friday night. Each officer fired one shot. One bullet struck Sylvester in the abdomen and the other missed him and struck a mattress.

“Our investigation into this officer-involved shooting has been completed and we have determined that the use of force was justified in this case,” Fuller said.

Sylvester told officers who interviewed him at South Shore Hospital on Saturday morning that he ignored the two officers’ commands to drop the knife he was holding and turn around because he wanted them to shoot him, according to a police report.

“Sylvester said he hoped to get shot in the back of the head,” Sgt. Robert Regan wrote in his report. “He said that he wanted to stab himself in the Adam’s apple and was going crazy in the head.”

That’s when police say Sylvester turned and lunged at the two officers and they fired. Both officers were transported to South Shore Hospital as a precaution and placed on paid leave following the shooting, per department policy, Fuller said. They have not yet returned to work.

Sylvester is being held at South Shore Hospital, where he was listed in good condition Tuesday afternoon. He is being held without bail on two counts of assault with intent to murder and one count of failure to register as a sex offender.

He was arraigned in his hospital bed Monday, when not-guilty pleas were entered on his behalf.

A hearing has been scheduled for Tuesday to determine if he is healthy enough to participate in another hearing to determine if he poses a danger if released.

Sandra Gant, a public defender who represented Sylvester at his arraignment, could not be reached Tuesday afternoon.

Officers responded to the Brookside Condominiums at 215 Winter St. shortly before midnight Friday after the residents reported that Sylvester was in the apartment and they couldn’t get him out, according to police. When police arrived, they found him in a bedroom holding a knife with a pink handle and a four-inch blade, according to the report.

After he was shot, Sylvester was able to walk to a stretcher on his own, according to the report. Police had already been looking for Sylvester because he had failed to register as a sex offender. Sylvester had cut off a GPS tracking bracelet that he had been ordered to wear when he was released from jail in March.

Records from the state's Sex Offender Registry show that he was classified as a level 2 sex offender, the second-highest category in terms of the likelihood of committing further offenses, in 2002 on a charge of indecent assault and battery on a person over the age of 14.

The last officer-involved shooting in Weymouth happened in 2010 when an officer shot and wounded a 16-year-old boy who police said lunged at him with a kitchen knife. An internal police investigation found the shooting was justified.